Hernial band or belt truss



Nov- 25, 1 5 L. SICHEL 2,861,566

HERNIAL BAND OR BELT muss Filed-Oct. 21, 1957 LEO SICHEL INVENTOR.

AGENT United States Paten HERNIAL BAND R BELT TRUSS Leo Sichel, St. George, N. Y. Application October 21, 1957, Serial No. 691,359 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-100) The present invention relates to hernial trusses, and more particularly to certain improvements in implements generally known as hand or belt trusses.

Known hernial trusses may be divided into two groups, i. e. elastic beltings of textile material with rubber threads incorporated therein, and those employing mechanical springs. The main drawback of elastic belting is that the band tends to expand and thus requires constant adjustments in order to press the rupture pad with sufiicient force against the protrusion. A truss with mechanical springs is less desirable since, if sufliciently taut, it becomes uncomfortable and may cause considerable pain to the wearer.

Accordingly, an important object of the instant invention is to provide a truss which is light, comfortable and self-adjustable in such manner that a desired rupture pad pressure against the orifice of protrustion may be maintained without adjustments in length of the waist-encircling belt.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a hernial truss which comprises means for holding the rupture pad at a distance from the supporting belt whereby the pad is under constant pressure directed radially toward the orifice of protrusion, even if the band is relatively loosely attached to the wearers body.

In accordance with one feature of my invention, a belt of soft, flexible but not necessarily stretchable textile material carries an inflatable receptacle which is attached thereto so as to be located between the body and the belt when the latter is put to use. In this manner, the inflated receptacle exerts constant elastic or yielding pressure to maintain the rupture pad in the hernial opening. The pad pressure may be varied by further inflating or deflating the receptacle. For such purpose, the receptacle is provided with a suitable valve which, in its simplest form, consists of a pipe communicating with the air chamber and a cork or like sealing member. of course, the receptacle may be permanently sealed with such quantity of air entrapped therein as to insure satisfactory pressure of the rupture pad, especially since each truss usually includes a buckle to permit attachment, removal, and coarser adjustments of the belt relative to the wearers body.

Another feature of my invention is in that the rupture pad is indirectly supported by and spaced from the supporting belt whereby the latter, when passing around the wearers body, subjects the rupture pad to constant substantially radial pressure causing it to enter rather deeply into the orifice of protrusion even if the band is under relatively low tension.

Other features, advantages and attributes of the improved truss will become apparent in the course of the following detailed description of certain at this time preferred embodiments which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and the invention will be finally pointed put in the appended claim.

2,861,566 I Patented Nov. 25, 1958 of Fig. 4 in the direction of arrows.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawing, and first to Figs. 1 and 2, one end of the flexible belt 10 of non-stretchable textile material carries a buckle 11 for attachment, removal and coarser adjustments of the belt on a wearers body, the belt further supporting an inflatable receptacle 12 of rubber or like resilient material, and a preferably circular pressure plate 13. Receptacle 12 may be inflated through a short pipe 14 here shown sealed by a cork 15, and is movable longitudinally of the belt 10 which passes between the receptacle and a pair of transverse straps 16, 17 whose extremities are secured to member 12. When the belt 10 is in actual use, the inflated receptacle 12 is in contact with the wearers body or with an undergarment, and increasing pressure of the band against the median portion of the receptacle causes the entrapped air to accumulate in the upper and lower zones of the air chamber which are not under direct pressure by the body encircling belt (see Fig. 3). While the receptacle 12 is preferably between the dorsum and the belt 10, it can be moved into any suitable position along the belt.

Pressure plate 13 has a pair of transverse slots 18, 19 for the passage of belt 10 therethrough. A spacer member 20 which as shown, may be a threaded stud, is fixed between the belt and the pad 26 to keep the belt at an ad vantageous distance from the pad and to exercise a vertical or approximately vertical pressure on the pad when the belt is tightened over the body. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, an adapter plate 23 is fastened to pad 26 by screws 25, which are the conventional fastening means in existing pads so that pads presently on the market may be used for my truss. Rupture pad 26 is secured to the inner face of adapter plate 23 and, by moving the pressure plate 13 longitudinally of belt 10, may be placed directly against the orifice of protrusion and then held in such position by the radial pressure exerted by spacing member 20 which threadedly connects the pressure plate 13 with adapter plate 23, the nut 24 being provided to lock the pressure plate in position.

The radial component of the pressure available for urging the pad 26 against the rupture is considerably greater than in known types of band trusses which rely merely on the resiliency of rubber belting where the radial component is very small and thus substantially greater belt pressures are necessary to maintain the pad in proper position.

The invention is, of course, not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described but may be embodied in a number of further modifications within the spirit and scope of the appended claim. For example, two or more inflatable receptacles 12 may be used; the spacing member 20 may be integral with the pressure plate; the rupture pad 26 may be attached directly to the pressure plate and the adapter plate 23 omitted; the pressure plate may be non-adjustably connected with the belt and the straps for holding the air receptacle to the band afiixed to the hand.

If desired, the inflated air receptacle may be placed over the pad so as to exert a direct radial pressure thereagainst.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A hernial truss comprising, in combination, a body encircling belt of flexible, non-stretchable material, a

rugture pad supported by gaid belt and adapted to be *Referencesfiitedin the file ofthis patent placed against the orifice of protrusion, and at least one UNITED STATES PATENTS resilient receptacle containing fluid mounted on the belt at a position substantially diametrically opposite the pad to exert a radial pressure against the pad. y 5

675,208 Gerhardt May 28, 1901 1,473,539 Beasley Nov. 6, 1923 

